Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/621

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ONDERDONK
O'NEILL

and priest in Trinity church, Newark, N. J.. 26 July, 1815, by the same bishop. He was appointed assistant minister of Trinity church, New York, while in deacon's orders, and held that post un- til 183(5, owing to the insufficiency of the Episcopal fund prior to that date. In 1821 he was elected professor of ecclesiastical his- tory in the General theological semina- ry. New York, and also of the nature, ministry, and poli- ty of the church, in the same institu- tion. This latter chair he held dur- the remainder of his life, although

he did not perform

any duties in it after 1845. From 1816 till 1830 he was secretary of the diocesan convention of New York. He received the degree of of S. T. D. from Columbia in 1826. On the death of Bishop Hobart, in 1880, Dr. Onderdonk was elected his successor, as fourth bishop of New York. He was consecrated in St. John's chapel, New York, 26 Nov., 1830. Although he was active, diligent, and effective in the discharge of his duties from this time onward, and zealous in carrying out the church principles of Bishop Hobart, he nevertheless fell into grave difficulties. Under the provisions of a canon, passed in October, 1844, for the trial of bishops, he was brought to trial on the ground of immoral acts, charged to have been committed between June, 1837, and July, 1842. The court, consisting of seventeen bishops, sat in New York from 11 Dec, 1844, to 3 Jan., 1845. Eight of the bishops voted for deposition and nine for suspension. This latter, accordingly, became the sentence of the court, and Bishop Onderdonk was declared to be " suspended from all exercise of his episcopal and ministerial functions." Immediately after the trial he published " A Statement of Facts and Circumstances Connected with the Recent Trial of the Bishop of New York," in which he denied all criminality in the matters charged. Even to the day of his death he persisted in assert- ing his innocence, but made no attempt to evade the sentence. Numerous pamphlets, both for and against the bishop, were issued in this and fol- lowing years. As the sentence of suspension had no limitation attached to it, a grave question arose as to what was to be done in behalf of the diocese of New York. The general convention, in 1847, enacted that the house of bishops have power to remit and terminate any sentence imposed by bishops as a judicial tribunal, and also that never again should the penalty of suspension be iniiicted except it specify the terms and the time of its ceasing to have effect. The diocese of New York made strenuous efforts to obtain a remission of the sentence, and besought the bishops to afford relief. The third and last memorial was in 1859. when the convention of New York, by a vote of 147 to 19 of the clergy and 75 to 46 of the laity, begged the house of bishops to terminate the suspension of Bishop Onderdonk. The petition was not granted, and the bishop went down to his grave within two years with this stigma still fastened upon him. Bishop Onderdonk published a few occasional ser- mons, and contributed an excellent preface to a re- publication, by the Protestant Episcopal press, of Dr. John Bowden's "Letters on the Apostolic Origin of Episcopacy " (1831). — Their nephew, Henry, historian, b. in North Hempstead, Queens CO., N. Y., 11 June, 1804: d. in Jamaica, N. Y., 22 June, 1886, was graduated at Columbia in 1827, and in 1878 received his bachelor's degree from Harvard also, being enrolled among the class of 1828. He became principal of Union hall academy. L. I., in 1832, and held that office till his retirement in 1865, after which he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He was a successful teacher and an accomplished classical scholar, lectured extensively on temperance and local history, and gave much of his time to historical and genealogical research. He was a member of many learned societies. His writings include " Documents and Letters Intending to illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Queens County, N. Y." (New York, 1846) ; " Correspondence with James Fenimore Cooper on the Capture and Death of Maj. WoodhuU " (1848); " Revolutionary Incidents of Suffolk and Kings Counties, with an Account of the Battle of Long Island" (1849);' "Long Island and New York in Olden Times, being Newspaper Extracts and Historical Sketches " (Ja,maiea, 1851) ; " The Annals of Hempstead from 1643 to 1882 " (Hempstead, N. Y., 1878) ; and " Antiquities of the Parish Church, Hempstead, including Ovster Bav and the Churches in Suffolk County " (1880).


O'NEALL, John Belton, jurist, b. in Bush river, S. C, 10 April, 1793; d. near Newberry, S. C, 27 Sept., 1863. His grandparents on both sides were natives of Ireland, and his parents were Quakers. He was graduated at South Carolina college in 1812. prepared himself for the profession of the law, and was admitted to the bar in 1814. He was elected in 1816 to the lower house of the South Carolina legislature, and was subsequently three times re-elected to the same body. During his last two terms, in 1824 and 1826, he was the speaker of the house. In December, 1828, he was chosen an associate judge, and in 1830 a judge of the court of appeals. He henceforth remained upon the bench through various changes of the judiciary system until finally he was made chief justice of South Carolina. Not content with the reputation of an able and incorruptible judge, he was active in promoting the agricultural interests and railway enterprises of the state. He was especially devoted to the cause of temperance, of which he was an eloquent and untiring advocate. In this relation his reputation was wide. In the Baptist denomination, of which he was a member, he was recognized and honored as a leader. He was president of the southern Baptist convention from 1858 till 1863. Judge O'Neall was also active in the militia, in which he rose to the rank of major-general. He contributed largely to the press on education, temperance, religion, and agriculture, and delivered numerous addresses, several of which were published. He was also the author of a " Digest of the Negro Law " (1848) ; "Annals of Newberry" (1858); and "Bench and Bar of South Carolina " (2 vols., Charleston, 1859).


O'NEILL. John, soldier, b. in County Cavan, Ireland, in 1834 ; d. in Omaha. Neb., 7 Jan., 1878. He emigrated to the United States in his youth, served three years in the National army during the civil war, and, resigning in 1864, established a pension agency in Nashville. Tenn., with branch offices in other cities. In 1866 he was appointed by his Irish compatriots to command the Fenian forces that invaded Canada. On 1 Jan. he set out with 1,500 men, crossed the Niagara river at Buffalo